Trump: Waterboarding Not ‘the Nicest Thing,’ But ‘Peanuts Compared to Many Alternatives’

Tuesday at a campaign rally in St. Clairsville, OH, presumptive Republican presidential nominee reacted to the Istanbul airport terror attack earlier and questioned the tactics the American government was willing to use compared to the what terrorist groups have already done.

“We can’t do waterboarding — which may not be the nicest thing, but it’s peanuts compared to many alternatives,” he said. “So we can’t do waterboarding but they can do chopping off heads, drowning people in steel cages. They can do whatever they want to do.”

“They probably think we’re weak,” he added. “We’re stupid. We don’t know what we’re doing. We have no leadership. You know, you have to fight fire with fire.”